“The Responsibility“ by Peter Appleton (read by Tom O’Bedlam)

I know the poem was printed in 1963, but I don’t know if that was the first time it appeared. To try to resolve ambiguity, “I“ is usually a different man in each stanza. “Him“ usually refers to the man last mentioned. If not, then “him“ should be obvious from context. “I am the one responsible“ seems to mean the taxpayer or everyman, not an individual. There may be other interpretations but that’s how it seems to me.. It’s similar to a nursery rhyme: “This is the House that Jack Built“ The picture is Harry Truman who gave the word to use the Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I am the man who gives the word, If it should come, to use the Bomb. I am the man who spreads the word From him to them if it should come. I am the man who gets the word From him who spreads the